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3K warrants to be issued in March |
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Monday, 02 March 2009 |
More than 3,000 warrants, some dating back to 2002, are outstanding with the Benton Police Department.
Throughout March, police plan to serve those warrants, Sgt. Kevin Russell said.
“We always try to serve the warrants as often as we can,” he said, “but [in March] we plan to place extra concentration on serving them. We basically decided to do this because of the shear number of outstanding warrants we have logged. The intent of this operation is to clear out our back log of warrants at our department.”
Russell said the back log consists of 2,972 misdemeanor and 71 felony warrants on file. He said the warrants are from a variety of offenses — from failure to appear in court to more serious felonies.
“We are encouraging people with warrants to turn themselves in,” Russell said. “It could save them embarrassment if we have to come to their home and arrest them in front of family, friends or at their place of business. They could also avoid additional fees such as impounding their vehicle if they are arrested on a traffic stop.”
He said if a person turns themselves in to authorities, they could possibly just be given a new court date, but that depends on the nature of the warrant. If the police have to serve the warrant, Russell said the person will most likely have to serve jail time. He also said most of the warrants will probably be served in central Arkansas, but they could even decide to other states.
“It is possible we could go out of state,” Russell said. “We’ll just go case by case to make that decision.”
Anyone who thinks they may have a warrant is encouraged to call the Benton Police Department at 776-5948 or come by in person at 114 S. East St. (below the Benton Municipal Building).
If you know of someone who might have an outstanding warrant, call Benton police tip line at 315-TIPS.
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